Going Back
by Locked in a Stony Tower
Summary: “He was always so little” Narcissa said frustratedly “So little, so frail, so abused by all of us" Narcissa and Andromeda rememer how it was before.


I disclaim.

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"Remember when we used to visit this manor Cissy?" Andromeda asked her sister, twirling a piece of her chocolaty caramel hair in-between two long elegant fingers and biting into a firm, black cherry, dribbling cherry juice down her chin to her blue trimmed white sundress, feeling (not for the first time that day) as if she were a young girl again

"We always hated it when we were younger. When our heads were still screwed on right" Narcissa said as she nodded, her fair curls stained with juice from the infinite amount of cherries she and her sister had picked in the orchard

Andromeda looked over looking very offended "My head was always screwed on right. I never went along with the Black ideals" she said, her head held up by her hand as she lay on her stomach

"Not after you started tutoring Ted Tonks you didn't" Narcissa teased "But Sirius was the only one of us who never seemed to support them. Even you were in Slytherin, Dromeda" she grinned and poked her sister's nose, reaching up from her position lying on her back. Her pale legs stuck out from her hot pink baby doll dress and her feet were bare

"But _Cissy_" Andromeda protested "Let me talk!" she paused and tried to gather her thoughts "We always hated visiting Malfoy manor as kids, but now that we all live here, now that we've painted it over and things…now it feels wonderful and home like…because we made it our own"

"Yes" Narcissa said thoughtfully "We have" she shook her blond mane out, grinning at the pink stained tips as Andromeda tried hard not to roll her eyes at them

Andromeda suddenly started laughing. Narcissa poked her "What, what is it? It's not fair if you laugh at something and don't tell"

"Remember when Siri dared Bella to run through Mr. Malfoy's peacocks?" Andromeda asked her sister, her grey eyes dancing, seeming more warm than they had in years

"And….she-came….out all……covered in….crud!" Narcissa said, the words almost not making it to her mouth from giggling so hard

"But" Andromeda said sobering "Later he dared Reggie to do the same thing"

The two girls looked at each other sadly

"He was always so little" Narcissa said frustratedly "So little, so frail, so abused by all of us…except you Andromeda, but before you left you always saw yourself above such things as comforting Reggie…I did worse than ignore him, I don't deny that

"He made such an easy victim out of himself. He had a wall between him and everyone else…when he smiled it never reached his eyes, when he cried…well we were all trained never to cry…but Reggie was always the best at it…"

"He was like a little prince" Andromeda said "Always up on a shelf, always so cool, so aloof, so majestic, never let himself care"

"But he was crushed the hardest" Narcissa said softly "He was forced into a life to hard for anyone, let alone a scared, sickly teenager who was either seen as not as cool as his brother or not as strong as his cousins"

"Sirius, that's the family's little point of shame" Andromeda said spitefully "To our parents at least, but Sirius was the best of us all. He was loyal and strong and not afraid of anything, and…I miss the little snot nosed brat who would play Quidditch with his brother in the sitting room and laugh when he was punished for it"

"He was defiantly reckless" Narcisssa allowed "But loyal? It depends on who you're asking. He did everything he could for his friends, but he left Reggie to a life of abuse and the great bloody prat probably never knew what happened to him"

"More loyal than Bella" Andromeda said "But I always thought she had been hit with some sort of hex as a baby"

Narcissa snorted "Bella? Nah, it was the bright lights and glimmer of the city. She wanted the sort of life she could only get as a loyal Death Eater. She loved the Dark Lord and his plan, his way of moving and the way that he could make her heart race with a single word"

Andromeda shrugged "I don't care why anymore"

"I just want to go back" Narcissa blurted out "I want to be seven and have Bella be ten and teach me spells like the one that made Sirius blue and you be eight and turn cartwheels down hills with me and kiss my bruises better and have Sirius be five and have the two of us jump on one foot all the way between his house and the muggle park, and be able to play little games with Reggie when he was three. That's all I want any more, just to go back in time and be seven again." She was crying now and Andromeda sat up and pulled her close, her arm around her sister's shoulder

"I know Cissy. I liked being eight"

The two of them watched the sunset and sighed softly

"It'll be getting dark soon" Narcissa said reluctantly "Draco worries about me out here without my wand, then when I come in covered in scratches and cherry stains he almost calls St. Mungo's insane asylum"

"Harry will be worrying soon, and he'll need sleep. Teddy is exhausting, much as I love him"

The two women started to leave, stuffing their pockets full of cherries. They looked down the hill they were going to go down and exchanged glances

"I'm not sure if I can do this anymore" Andromeda admitted

"I don't think I can either Dromeda"

"We could walk…"

"Oh please Drommie, let's just try it" Narcissa begged

"Oh, alright" and the two of them turned cartwheels down the hill and went back, just for a few seconds.


End file.
